Game three of the NBA 2K24 Summer League was rough for the Milwaukee Bucks and head coach Adrian Griffin, who lost by 21 points despite splitting two quarters and winning another by five. However, the disastrous third quarter, which saw Milwaukee total just nine points compared to 35 for the Brooklyn Nets, ended up doing Illinois fans a favor as it forced Adrian to let his eldest son and two-year Illini, Alan, make his Summer League debut.
Nerves, being down by a massive amount likely contributed to Griffin’s less than stellar play. In just three minutes, Griffin managed to get up three shots and pick up a technical foul for not backing away from an inbound pass to the referee’s liking. He made just one of those three shots but ended with four points because of a technical free throw from Brooklyn antics following an alley-oop.
Moving forward and especially ahead of game four against the Miami Heat, it was pretty clear that Griffin would not see the floor again unless there was another blowout.
As it happens, game four started down that road almost immediately, and although technically finishing closer than the loss to the Nets, this meeting with Miami felt like much more of a blowout from the jump. Rather than entering halftime all tied up and blowing it in the third, Milwaukee lost every single quarter by similar margins, which eventually culminated in a 91-72 loss. Despite trailing by 17 points entering the third quarter, it took until the 1:55 mark for Adrian Griffin to throw his son a bone. With not much to play for and limited time to show off his abilities, Griffin almost immediately put up a shot from 28 feet out that unfortunately did not drop. Other than a rebound, Griffin’s only other substantial play was a last second turnover that turned into a closing dunk for the Heat. Griffin now sits at just five minutes through four games, totaling four points and one rebound on shooting splits that do not represent the situation he is in when taken at face value (1-4).
After a 2-0 start to Summer League, Griffin and the Milwaukee Bucks now sit at 2-2 heading into the Summer League consolation games this Saturday. Interested Illinois fans can tune into Griffin’s meeting with the Sacramento Kings at 3:30 p.m. CT on NBA TV.
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